I brought up Northrop because I’m guessing they bid a Cygnus derived deorbit vehicle.
How is this a handout? They bid for a contract and won it vs competitors.
I’m hoping we get a source selection statement soon where they spell out why companies like Northrop and Blue didn’t win.
Yup, low earth orbit (LEO) still has some thin atmosphere that slows things down a tiny bit and makes them deorbit over time. That’s why, for example, the ISS has to reboost to stay up and can chuck garbage bags overboard and not really worry about them. The deorbit time depends on a lot of factors including the mass and surface area. Starlink sats are supposed to passively deorbit in about 5 years.
I like AntennaPod for podcasts.